filtering

Social Learning…it has to happen but what will it look like?

Posted by Dean Shareski on in change, Classrooms, filtering, Personal, socialnetworks 7 Comments

This post was last updated on December 12th, 2011 at 03:17 pm

A local principal told me today she had to suspend 20 students from computer privileges for inappropriate use of school computers. Primarily Facebook. Specifically some of these students were engaging with bullying others socializing. She also suggested most of these student’s parents do not understand the implications of their actions, let alone what facebook is or does.

While my initial reaction was to suggest alternate ways to handle the socializing, the bullying of course raises another issue. She did ask our IT guys to considering blocking Facebook. He was not prepared to make that call. We discussed it later and would certainly like to pursue educational opportunities.

I quickly fired up a tweet and received this responses(for those that do not understand twitter, it only allows 140 characters, thus the IMspeak) :

  • Clay Burell cburell @shareski I’d be interested to read a post about that. If they violate AUP, how is it different from any other misbehavior?
  • Durff Durff @shareski I would revoke until they had passed bullying curriculum and parental meeting…then when they graduate from tha
  • K Christopherson kwhobbes @shareski get them to explore the effects of
… Read the rest

Having to deal with Content Filtering

Posted by Dean Shareski on in filtering 3 Comments

This post was last updated on September 5th, 2011 at 11:06 am

I’ve been fortunate over my tenure in educational technology to avoid content filtering. The school division I previously worked for never implemented any filtering software. My current division has requested we develop a policy and protocol and I’m to lead the charge.

I’ve not ignored the topic but have contributed to many bloggers struggle with the topic. I haven’t heard much in the last few months on this topic. Is it resolving itself? Are people simply accepting whatever policies have been put in place? Maybe everything’s working really well?

My opinions and beliefs haven’t changed much over time. In fact, I believe in more certainty that blatant blocking of sites just isn’t the way to go. The challenge I face is leading an entire division in creating a policy that is both acceptable to most/many and can live with in terms of philosophy. Currently, our IT department has deployed a cache logging system and has purchased a blacklist for a US source. The trick now is to determine how we will use this list. Included is the idea of weighted phrases.

I know this will be a very … Read the rest